Cool Cork dash Déise dream

GAA: There's a thriving little industry on this island for curses and piseogs and hoary traditions. The hurlers of Waterford seem to come out on the wrong side of them all.

They lost their third All-Ireland semi-final of the decade yesterday in circumstances which were cruel but familiar. A team who have been knocking on the door for so long go back to the end of the queue.

Picture the ending. A crowd baying, the bodies crashing, the ball skittering every way and Waterford offered a soft free when play was called back after Joe Deane had appeared to put Cork a couple of points clear.

Ken McGrath bent, lifted, struck from about 90 yards. Straight on. Donal Óg Cusack rose, levitated almost, and didn't just save the point but batted the ball out to his left, where it was pounced upon by a pack of Cork defenders looking like wolves who had happened across a lamb chop. Game over. Dream over.

The usual platoon of dreary nit-pickers will point out that the hurling wasn't always kingly or sweet yesterday and that the game deserves to be shelved among the vins ordinaires.

Wrong. This was an enthralling epic which grew towards excellence. Cork advanced by virtue of their desire and their excellence. When their backs are to the wall Cork can always pull out a hero or two with enough coolness and enough genius to turn a game. Yesterday they had many big men and also managed the neat trick of throwing in a kid, young Cathal Naughton of Newtownshandrum. He scored 1-1 in his first couple of minutes on the pitch to turn the game Cork's way.

Waterford must have risen yesterday morning and seen the rain and rolled their eyes to Heaven. The greasy Croke Park surface cost them dearly two years ago against Kilkenny and yesterday again the elements did them no favours. Cork would argue naturally that both teams played in the same conditions. They would perform with equal certainty in a hurricane or in a snow blizzard.

After a game distinguished by lots of slipping and sliding there were dressingroom criticisms of the Croke Park pitch, which despite being slippy on the surface appears to remain as hard as cut glass, making the selection of studs a difficult task.

The pitch is becoming a serious concern for the GAA. Players constantly lost their footing yesterday.

In the All-Ireland quarter-final, Clare midfielder Colin Lynch twisted an ankle, an injury directly attributed to the pitch.

"There is no other pitch in Ireland like Croke Park so you can't practise on another pitch and say we're used to it," said Waterford coach Justin McCarthy. "You can't take a divot out of it. There is no sod in it you can see flying around the place.

"You would nearly need spikes on to keep your feet and unless that day comes there will be fellas cribbing."

His counterpart, John Allen, agreed: "It affects players' confidence as they are coming for the ball and the next thing they are on the ground."

The weather robbed a little from the game but by the second half the hurling had risen above the weather. With the sides level as they went to their tea and sandwiches at half-time, Waterford lit the blue touchpaper straight from the resumption with a goal filched by Eoin Kelly after a couple of sublime saves by Cusack. When Waterford added a point within seconds a sense of belief and anticipation rolled around the stadium.

We have seen Cork too often to doubt their resolution, however. Though it is never spoken about in the Cork camp, this is a side on the cusp of history. In a county with so many All-Ireland titles in the bag there is a special place reserved for three-in-a-row teams.

If Pat Mulcahy can lift the All-Ireland trophy on the first Sunday in September this team will be carried shoulder high to the pantheon. You can tell that the weight of it bows them down at times.

For another decorated Corkman, however, it was a time to reflect on a glorious opportunity missed. McCarthy, though, wasn't going to find fault with his Waterford charges

"Just one of these things really. I can't blame anybody," he said. "I'm very proud the way the team played and certainly we gave everything we had. They just got the last break."

McCarthy refused to elaborate on his future after five years in the job: "We'll just have to keep at it. There is a lot of work going in. We have over 90-odd sessions this year and some decent young players coming through so Waterford will be back.

"I don't know really."

Cork will meet either Kilkenny or Clare in the final.

That game will be decided next weekend at Croke Park.

It was a busy weekend at GAA headquarters. Before Cork and Waterford got to business yesterday the hurlers of Antrim won the Christy Ring Cup by a margin which suggested the GAA will have to review the entire business.

Yesterday's final should have been as joyous a day for Carlow as last year's was for Westmeath but Antrim were considerably too strong for this grade of hurling.